Islamists Win 71% Of Seats In The New Egyptian Parliament

The Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), which represents Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, has won 47 per cent of all seats in the country's election for the lower house of parliament, the election commission has said.

The FJP won 235 seats in the new People's Assembly, Abdel Moez Ibrahim, the head of the country's election commission, announced on Saturday.

It also secured 127 seats on party lists, while its candidates won another 108 in first-past-the-post constituency votes, where votes were cast for individual candidates.

The hardline Islamist Salafi al-Nour party has won 24 per cent of all seats on offer.

The liberal al-Wafd party has won about seven per cent of the seats, according to the latest results. The election commission says that voter turnout was 54 per cent in the polls.

The landmark elections for the lower house of parliament, held in three stages, were the first since the fall of Hosni Mubarak, the former president, who was overthrown by a popular uprising in January last year.

Two-thirds of the 498 seats up for election were reserved for those belonging to registered political parties (refered to as 'closed party lists'), while the remaining one-third of seats were contested by individuals. Ten seats were reserved for appointees.

"This parliament, that has its opening session on Monday, has very limited powers. The most important thing that it will be doing in the coming weeks and months, is setting up a 100-member body that will then write the constitution," reported Al Jazeera's Sherine Tadros from Cairo, the Egyptian capital.